We had a very early start from Napier to Wellington as it was a long drive. The weather was miserable and the winds were ridiculously strong! We were battling with the car whilst driving and made even more difficult by the windy roads through the valleys. We were very thankful when we arrived in one piece! We arrived much later than planned due to the poor weather conditions so didn't have too much time in the afternoon to explore. So we ended up wandering the CBD which was only a short walk from our hotel. The weather was still extremely windy, nearly had my flip flop blown away mid step! We popped in a few shops but we were both pretty tired. Back at the hotel I went to the gym before freshening up to go out for dinner.

The next morning the weather had calmed down a lot and the sun came out a little. We had booked on to a tour at the Weta Studio famous for its work with lots of movies but mostly the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. It was fascinating being shown around the workshop and the process of designing and creating various aspects of the films props and costumes. We had a South African guide called Matt who was very amusing. He explained how most of the people who worked there were self taught which is quite amazing really. We got to see a real life Master Swordsmith at work - given the title by the Queen! How amazing, I always thought those titles were fake or jokes, but apparently not! There are only 5 Master Swordsmiths in the world... We met some giant trolls from the First Hobbit movie and Golemn. All totally real. We also got told the secret date of the zombie apocalypse so we can start preparing... I'd definitely recommend going just so you can get that information! That afternoon we headed over to Te Papa museum which is the national museum for NZ. It had some interesting exhibitions which included one on the natural forces and one on the Maori culture. Especially after the big earthquake in Christchurch there is a huge focus on this type of natural disaster and prevention methods. The museum has now been fitted with special foundations that reduce movement of the Te Papa in an earthquake. You are able to go underground to see these, thankfully not in action!